Akava members show signs
they are willing to retire later

Members of the trade union confederation Akava are prepared
to remain longer in working life than before. This is revealed in the latest
survey commissioned by Akava and conducted by TNS Gallup.

Akava has been examining attitudes towards retirement among its members for
some time now. Surveys aimed at sounding out members as to where they stand on
this issue have been carried out in 2007, 2010 and 2013.

Akava, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in
Finland, is a trade union confederation for those with university, professional
or other higher-level educational qualifications. Together, Akava’s 35
affiliates have unionised more than half a million employees and professionals.

The planned age for retirement has been moving steadily upward among Akava
members. Right now it stands at 63.9 years. There has been a 0.7 year
trajectory since 2010. And from 2007 the increase has been 2.7 years. The
survey was based on the whole working population and on average the planned
retirement age among non-Akava members was exactly 63 years.

Even though the readiness to work longer than before has been on the rise 65
per cent of Akava members and 75 per cent of other wage and salary earners are
unwilling to accept that the minimum old-age retirement age should be raised to
65 years. More women than men are opposed to any change.

In Finland the earnings-related retirement age is currently flexible between
the ages of 63 and 68 years.

For one out of three Akava members the lowest earnings-related retirement age
63 seems not to be a goal, they are planning to work longer. One out of ten is
planning to work after they've turned 65.

"The discussion concerning the lengthening of a working career has clearly
confused wage and salary earners", says Akava director Pekka Piispanen.
"They are ready to work beyond the age of 63 but a forced retirement later
on makes many afraid."

How to manage longer?

The survey also asked how people would manage in a longer working life. Almost
everyone (95 per cent of Akava members and 92 per cent of others) mentioned the
possibility to influence one's own work as the key issue. 92 per cent of Akava
members and 87 per cent of others said more flexible working hours would help.
A secure job was mentioned by 89 per cent of Akava members and 89 per cent of
others. 87 per cent of Akava members and 85 per cent others said better
management would help.

The differences between Akava members and others were actually rather
insignificant. Akava members were more inclined towards part-time work or
part-time retirement as an incentive to working longer. Others pinned their
hopes on better salary and better rehabilitation possibilities.

"On the basis of the answers received one can draw the conclusion that
improvements in working life for those over 50 years of age could serve to extend
their working careers. When making decisions on reforms to the pension system
it is extremely important to remember that just raising the retirement age on
its own will not solve work career and retirement problems. This is especially
the case with highly educated wage earners that do mentally demanding work and
more weekly overtime", Piispanen says.

Cookies

To make this site work properly, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your device. Most big websites do this too.

1. What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another.

2. How do we use cookies?

A number of our pages use cookies to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and other display preferences.)

Also, some videos embedded in our pages use a cookie to anonymously gather statistics on how you got there and what videos you visited.

Enabling these cookies is not strictly necessary for the website to work but it will provide you with a better browsing experience. You can delete or block these cookies, but if you do that some features of this site may not work as intended.

The cookie-related information is not used to identify you personally and the pattern data is fully under our control. These cookies are not used for any purpose other than those described here.

3. How to control cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see aboutcookies.org. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.